Still an ‘opportunity’ for Uran to win Giro d’Italia

Sky’s Rigoberto Uran is enjoying his best Grand Tour yet in the Giro d’Italia. The Colombian sits fifth overall, comfortably in the white jersey of best young rider, with only two big mountain days remaining.

“Can I win it? It’s an open Giro,” Uran told Cycling Weekly. “I lost important time on Sunday, but look, it’s still open.”

“Who knows, the next two days are so hard and anything could happen, anyone could explode,” Team manager, David Brailsford added. “Who’d give Chelsea the chance to win the European Cup the night before the first Barcelona match? Nobody. Yes, of course there’s an opportunity.”

Both Uran and Brailsford keep their feet on the ground. Ahead of Urán are riders experienced in placing in the top ten or winning Grand Tours. His best result has been 24th in last year’s Tour de France. A good result for Uran would be a top five. A great result would be a podium place and the white jersey.

“As you’re developing, you need to look for those little wins, sub goals and to keep you motivated along the way,” Brailsford added. “I think he can win it [the white jersey], it’d be great if he did.”

Brailsford kept an eye on Uran in the last two years when he raced with Caisse d’Epargne. He needed a rider who could climb and with a punch since Grand Tour often feature those types of finishes. In the team, he’s been impressed how Uran has gladly grabbed onto new training methods. Then, there’s his character.

“He’s a bundle of joy to be around, he’s a real character,” Brailsford said. “The lads really like him.”

As he posed for photos, the team’s staff called him Mick Jagger as he took off his helmet and brushed his long hair back. Uran smiled, enjoying the laugh and the attention. But, as Brailsford said, he’s serious.

“I’ve been working hard like all the other years,” Uran added. “Last year, I didn’t go well at the Tour de France. In the last days, I wasn’t breathing well, a little allergy. Unfortunately, it went that way due to the weather.

“To win a Grand Tour, I’ll have to keep working as I have been every year, harder and harder.”

Brailsford said that on a whole, Sky under-performs in time trialling “when it matters”. He added that if Uran is able to win a Grand Tour in the future then he and the team need to improve.

“He can already climb with the best in the world,” Brailsford explained. “Consistently, reliability, experience, positioning, moving around, saving energy here and there… That’s the little bit that you get with experience.”

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